Personal Research Coach Description, application, fees

Coaching involves two exchanges per week. First you submit the week's exercises via e-mail, then get point by point feedback from the coach via e-mail or Skype, usually within 24 hours. You go on to make changes as requested and then get a second round of feedback, including approval to go on to the next step.  See sample Week 1 Exercises.

For most participants, doing the Breakthrough! process with a personal coach requires 8-12 hours per week. This is best done as one whole work day (usually Monday or Tuesday) plus some time later in the week for the 'second draft' work.
You summarize the fruit of your Breakthrough! work in two documents:

• An academically respectable research report in English of about five pages plus questionnaire and statistics. See sample report.
• A 'so what' document which summarizes the findings and spells out the implications for the intended audience. See sample 'so what' document

The report and the 'so-what' document focus on what you keep praying for throughout the Breakthrough! process—discovery of breakthrough insights that will lead you to make changes that will result in a breakthrough in the area of your concern.

Personal coaching is available either for the whole 12-week course or, if you have attended a Breakthrough! workshop, for just the final six weeks.

The GMI research coach for Breakthrough is the author of the manual, Dr. Stan Nussbaum. However, there are many other people who could coach very well using the Breakthrough manual and exercises. Feel free to make your own arrangements with the coach of your choice, perhaps someone who is part of your agency and/or is already familiar with your situation. Those applying to GMI Research Services must meet the following requirements:

• Enough experience in Christian mission to identify a practical problem in his/her setting, and must be in that setting for the last seven weeks of the course. (Note: participants on home assignment may do the first five weeks while on leave, then suspend activity, then do the last seven weeks after returning to the field.)
• The full backing of his/her employing organization or church as explained on the Endorsement Form. Full-time students are not eligible.
• Reliable access to e-mail. (Skype is an advantage for the coaching process but is not a factor in determining who gets admitted.)
• Ability to make himself/herself easily understood in written English.

The value of the coaching as opposed to using the manual alone is mostly in the opportunities for discussion of the many worksheets and "decision" points. The e-mail exercises also include some questions which are not in the manual itself.

For example, the supplementary material in the e-book (not the printed version) includes a short section, "1.2.3.F  Suggestions for self-examination (Door 1)" which relates to an explanation of three "doors" to open when looking for the cause of a ministry problem. If you are using the manual on your own, you would think about these suggestions, perhaps do some self-examining, and move on.

If you are being coached, however, you would find this additional question in the exercises, "For each Master Worksheet you have filled out, ask yourself whether the concern you wrote there might be due to something behind Door 1 (a weakness, sin or wound). If so, explain briefly, including any ideas or plans you have for dealing with it." You become accountable to your coach for your self-examination, and you can draw on your coach's help and prayer as you deal with any problems your self-examination reveals.

1. If possible, buy or borrow a copy of the Breakthrough! manual so you can see it for yourself before applying. The electronic version is required for those who receive coaching; the print version is optional. (The electronic version is about 50% longer because of extra examples and instructions.)  Click here to order. Note that it is cheaper to buy them together if you think you will ever want both.
2. Look through the manual if you have it or look at a sample chapter here on the web site if you don't. Also look through the Week 1 Exercises to see if this really is the kind of training you want. (Note: these exercises overlap a lot with the worksheets in the manual but they are not identical. The full set is e-mailed to you free after your registration is accepted.)
3. Discuss the possibilities with your employing mission organization or church to see whether they will allocate some of your working time to this project and appoint the internal supervisor you need. See Endorsement Form.
4. Do the Week 1 Exercises and submit them with your application form, and endorsement form to the email located at the bottom of the forms.

There is no application fee for the coaching service. If you are accepted into the program, the service fee is $600. It is payable in advance by check or credit card. Checks should be in US dollars, payable to GMI, and mailed to GMI at PO Box 63719, Colorado Springs, CO 80962-3719, USA.

The first three weeks of work are probationary. If either the coach or the participant is unsatisfied with the process within that period, the coaching service is cancelled and $400 is refunded.

You will need to purchase the electronic version of the Breakthrough! manual ($21.95). The print version is optional. At the end of each chapter, the manual suggests supplementary readings in Colin Robson, Real World Research (2nd ed.), which is also optional. An additional book that may be of interest is Edgar Elliston, Introduction to Missiological Research Design.

GMI Research Services does not grant academic credit for the Breakthrough! course. However, the Breakthrough! course is currently taught by Dr. Nussbaum in two masters programs that do accredit the work for their own students—Wheaton College (Illinois) and Development Associates International (multi-nationally).

If you wish to receive academic credit for your work from your seminary or college, check with the registrar to see whether the work would meet the requirements either as a research methods course or an independent study elective. It involves about 120 hours of work including about 20 hours of interaction with a supervisor. In many systems this will make it roughly equivalent to a 2-hour graduate course.

If you need to submit a course description, you may use the following:

Breakthrough! Research Project Course Description. Skills are developed in research methodology through a field research project related to the student's ministry situation. The project provides experience in the design, execution, write-up and application of relatively uncomplicated research studies in the researcher's practical context. In the process, students will develop practical, working knowledge of research terms and concepts.